


I want to give you the world

by bluesapphic



Series: Spierfeld Week 20gayteen [7]
Category: Love Simon (2018), Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mutual Pining, but nothing even remotely graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 05:58:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14867996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesapphic/pseuds/bluesapphic
Summary: Bram needs a date to his cousin's wedding and comes up with the brilliantly terrible idea of fake-dating his crush, Simon.Spierfeld Week Day 6 - Fake Dating AUs





	I want to give you the world

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't supposed to be so long, but I wrote it and made myself cry, so I can't even pretend I'm not happy with it. I hope someone enjoys reading this even half as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Bram was nauseated. He couldn’t believe that his cousin was getting married in two weeks and he had no date. To be fair, this was not entirely his fault. He had been dating someone when he had RSVP’d to her wedding. He had been really serious about this guy, but it turned out that this guy had not been so serious about him.

And now, several months later, his family was expecting to meet his boyfriend, especially his dad who was beyond excited. Bram didn’t have the heart to tell his dad that he’d broken up with his boyfriend ages ago.

Bram was staring at his phone sadly when he heard the thump of a backpack on the floor and a sigh as someone lowered themself into the seat beside him. Bram looked over to see an exhausted Simon Spier.

“Hey Bram.”

“Hey Simon.” Bram stared at Simon for a second longer than was probably acceptable. He couldn’t help it: exhausted Simon was cute. “You okay? You look like you haven’t slept in 48 hours.”

“I feel like I haven’t slept in 48 hours. But yes, I’m fine, thanks for asking. I stayed up all night working on an essay for my history class. I’m still kicking myself for waiting until senior year to take that dumb class. Why do theater majors need to know history to begin with?”

“To become well-rounded individuals, I assume.”

Simon groaned. “What do I need to be a well-rounded individual for?”

Bram shrugged, “I hear that’s what employers like.”

Simon crossed his arms on his desk and laid his forehead on top of them. “I’m never going to get a job. I need to find a rich man and become a trophy husband.”

Bram snorted. “Maybe your lack of well-roundedness is why you haven’t found a rich man to marry yet.”

Simon rolled his head to look at Bram, squinting to make out whether Bram was joking or not. And then he smiled and raised his eyebrows suggestively, “Or I could date a pre-med student who’s gotten into about ten medical schools. Someone who is definitely going to be a rich doctor someday.”

Bram blushed. This was the new thing Simon had been doing lately, pretending to flirt with him. And Bram, as much as he wanted to, refused to flirt back. Not because he wasn’t capable of doing so, but because of his very real crush on Simon Spier. One that dated back to move-in day freshman year. All Simon had to do was smile and Bram was a goner. If Bram started flirting with Simon, it was only going to end badly.

“Very funny, Spier.”

“I’m serious. The second you decide you want an unemployed theater major for a boyfriend, hit me up.”

And then Bram had an idea. It was a terrible idea, but one that would make his dating problem go away. He cleared his throat. “Umm, actually.”

“No way. Are you actually going to take me up on that offer?” Simon was grinning.

Bram rolled his eyes. Based on Simon’s current grin, if he told Simon his idea, he would never live it down. “No. Never mind.”

Simon’s smile fell slightly. Or maybe Bram wanted to believe that it did.

“It’s a bad idea,” Bram sighed.

“Us dating?”

“No, the idea I was having.”

“So you don’t think the two of us dating is a bad idea?”

“ _Simon_ ,” Bram warned.

“Ok, ok, sorry what is your bad idea?”

“So my cousin’s wedding is in two weeks.”

“Mhm.”

“And I kind of RSVP’d that I’d have a date.”

Simon’s grin was back on in full force.

“I wasn’t lying,” Bram insisted. “I thought I would have a date. I was dating-”

“Dylan the dickhead? Yeah, I remember.”

“He wasn’t a dickhead.”

“He cheated on you.”

“Okay maybe he was a bit of a dickhead.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway, everyone is super excited to meet my boyfriend and I just can’t tell them that I don’t have one anymore.”

“Makes your stomach ache to think about it?” Simon knew Bram too well.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll be you fake boyfriend.”

Bram raised his eyebrows.

“What? That’s where this was headed, right? I didn’t completely misread the situation?”

“No, you didn’t. That is what I was going to ask. But it’s a bad idea.”

“Why? It’s the perfect fix. We’re friends so we know a ton about each other. Plus we don’t even have to lie much. You can say you broke up with that dickhead and then we just sort of fell together, so you never changed the RSVP.”

Bram didn’t want to tell Simon that the reason this was a bad idea was because of the whole crush factor. “So you’re saying I should tell them I came and cried on your shoulder and you took advantage of the situation?”

“Hey! First of all, you did cry on my shoulder. Second of all, I’m trying to help you here, don’t make me look like the bad guy!”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. What did you have in mind?”

“You came and cried on my shoulder and we were friends for a bit as you were getting over dickhead, but also you had an insane crush on me and the attraction couldn’t be ignored, so we finally got together.”

Bram laughed. “No one is going to believe that.”

“Fine, you cried on my shoulder and then after you were completely over dickhead, I asked you out and you said yes and the rest was history.”

Bram sighed. He didn’t really want to go through with this, but it beat the alternative. Plus it would be nice to be Simon’s boyfriend for a weekend. Even if it was pretend. “Okay. Yeah.”

“Awesome! I have a suit already. What tie are you wearing? We should probably match.”

“Wait, wait, hold up. What’s in this for you?”

“The satisfaction of helping a friend.”

Bram looked Simon disbelievingly.

“Really, Bram, I don’t need to get anything else out of this. Except maybe free wedding cake.”

“I should have known this was all about the food.”

“Obviously. So what tie-”

“Class is starting, you can come over to my place for dinner and we can talk about this then.”

“Nerd,” Simon whispered.

* * *

Simon knocked on his door several hours later. Bram was loathe to admit that he’d spent the past 30 minutes making sure his place was spotless and that his roommate was nowhere to be found. “Hey. I ordered pizza,” Bram said, letting Simon in.

“With pineapple?”

“Yes, with pineapple. Heathen.”

Simon smiled as he grabbed a slice, “You know me so well, dear.”

“Dear?” Bram furrowed his brow.

Simon turned back toward him. “I was trying out an endearment. No go?”

“Yeah, no. Sounds too forced.”

“Mm.” Simon plopped onto the couch.

Bram put a few slices on a plate and sat down gingerly next to Simon.

“Okay. Honey? Love?”

Bram made a face.

Simon scooted closer to Bram so their arms were touching. He spoke softly, almost shyly. “How about Bram baby?”

Bram blushed.

“Too much?” Simon was looking right into his eyes.

Bram couldn’t respond, he was too caught up in how close Simon’s face was to his own. He couldn’t pull his attention away from Simon’s incredibly grey eyes.

Simon looked away. “That one was my favorite, but if you don’t like it-”

Bram finally found his voice. “No.” He cleared his throat. “That one was good. It, um, felt real. Natural. People will believe that one, I think.”

Simon smiled at him. “Good. You want to come up with one for me? Or should we move on to tie colors?”

Bram ignored the idea of coming up with a term of endearment for Simon. They’d barely just sat down and this was already getting to be too much. “This isn’t prom, you know. We don’t have to match.”

“Yeah, but I went to prom stag. You know, with the whole being gay thing. Plus, I think we’ll look cute with matching ties.”

“And we won’t look cute without them?”

“We’re like this far from looking cute without them,” Simon held up his hand, thumb and index finger centimeters apart. “The ties will put us over the edge.”

“And here I thought I was good-looking enough to make us cute regardless,” Bram teased. He was flirting now, or at least attempting to. He figured he’d have to at least try to get used to it if they were going to fake a relationship for a weekend.

Simon grinned at Bram. “You’ll look cute, but then no one is going to believe you’re dating _me_.”

Bram knocked his shoulder into Simon’s. “You just want me to tell you that I think you’re cute.”

Simon raised his eyebrows, as though he was waiting.

Bram stuck his tongue out at Simon, who just laughed. Maybe this flirting thing wasn’t so bad.

“Fine. Don’t tell me I’m cute. Matching ties, though?”

Bram sighed. “I’m wearing dark blue.”

“That’s boring. You should wear something more eye-catching.” Simon tilted his head and stared at Bram for a second. “How about purple?”

“No.”

“So you probably won’t want a light blue or a pink, huh?”

“Simon, I don’t need or want people to stare at me.”

“Why not?”

Bram shook his head and took a bite of his pizza.

“Okay. Emerald green?”

“I don’t think I have an emerald green tie,” Bram tried to convey with his tone that he thought this was ridiculous.

“I’ll buy you one.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to! It’ll look good on you.”

Bram relented. “Okay. Emerald green tie it is. But I’m going to give it back to you after the wedding.”

“No way, you’re keeping it. I already have one, plus I get the added bonus of making you wear it to things because I bought it for you.”

Bram rolled his eyes. “Make me? You and what army?”

“Just because you’re two inches taller-”

“And at least 20 pounds heavier.”

“Okay, you don’t have to rub it in my face that you have muscles and I don’t. Bet I could still make you wear that tie any time I wanted you to, though.”

“How?”

“Remember that insane crush you have on me?”

“Yeah, you keep thinking that,” but Bram could feel his face flush despite himself. Simon was too close to the truth.

Simon smiled and moved so his back was to the armrest, resting his legs on Bram’s thighs. “Okay, so tell me all about this cousin of yours. You said her name was Mattie?”

“Yeah, all the cousins call her Mattie, but her name is Matilda. You should call her Matilda.”

“What a great name. Did she have a teacher named Miss Honey?”

“Not funny, Spier.”

“I bet she’d think it was funny.”

“Please don’t ask her that.”

Simon laughed at Bram’s expression. “I would never. Okay, tell me about her. And the rest of your family. Fill me in on what I need to know for next weekend.”

Bram did his best, trying to ignore how domestic this whole thing felt. How much he wished Simon actually cared about this, actually wanted to make a good impression on his family.

Simon was attentive, though. He asked questions and repeated information, trying to memorize the most important things.

After he was finished talking about his family, he started in on the itinerary.

“So we’ll head out here on Friday, around 1. Unless you have classes?”

“I only have one class on Friday, a 10 AM, I’ll be done at 11.”

“Great. So we’ll leave around 1 and drive down to Savannah. We’ll have a hotel room to ourselves, one bed but it’ll be king size. That’s not a problem, right?”

“Nope. We’re adults, pretty sure we can handle that.”

“Great. So there’ll be a rehearsal dinner at 6, no big deal, we just have to be there. We can dress casual, nice jeans and a button up. You may have to make some small talk, but it’s just family and significant others.”

“I’ll meet your dad there?”

“Yeah. That okay?”

“Of course, I just want to be prepared.”

Bram nodded. “Okay so then we have the rest of the night to ourselves. Then the wedding will be the next evening. Mattie is fasting, so I’ll probably go see her in the morning and try to make her feel better about the fact that she can’t eat.”

“You mean you’re going to eat breakfast in front of her to rub it in her face that she can’t?”

Bram gave Simon a mischievous smile. “You know it. Anyway, the rest of the day will just be hanging out with family until the wedding. And then it’s a typical Jewish wedding, it starts at 5, you have to say Mazel Tov after the glass breaking and then we’ll go to the reception. You’ll have to dance with me at some point, probably.”

“Sounds easy enough. Will you explain what’s happening during the wedding? I’ve never been to a Jewish wedding before.”

“Yeah, sure. I think that’s everything.”

Simon cleared his throat and gave Bram a funny look.

“What?” Bram asked.

“There’s, um, one other thing,” Simon rubbed his neck nervously.

“What is it?”

“I, uh, assume people will expect us to be kind of touchy-feely, yeah? Or well, I probably will be touchy-feely with you. That’s kind of how I am in relationships. And in general. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“Okay,” Bram didn’t know what Simon was getting at.

“I’m telling you that I’ll probably kiss you at some point next weekend. Maybe more than once. Unless you don’t want me to.”

“Oh,” Bram was a little a flustered. “Yeah, I guess that would be okay.”

“We don’t have to if you’re not cool with it.”

“No, I am,” Bram said with as much conviction as he could muster. He wasn’t sure he was actually okay with it. Bram couldn’t help but feel like this one bad idea was spiraling into a series of bad ideas. First, it was a fake relationship, and then flirting, and then kissing, and then what? Heartbreak, probably. But if they were going to sell it, they should be affectionate. Everyone would expect that.

“Okay. Well, I, uh, I don’t want our first kiss to be in front of people,” Simon said hesitantly. “Maybe we should practice?”

Bram’s brain short-circuited.

“I’m not, like, suggesting we make out or anything,” Simon reassured. “Just casual kissing.”

“Right now?” Bram’s heart was beating so rapidly, he thought he might faint. He had no idea how Simon was being so cool about this. But then again, Bram was the one with the crush on Simon, not the other way around.

“Or later, whenever. We should probably do another dinner or something anyway so I can make sure I’ve got everyone’s names and stuff so I don’t completely embarrass myself in front of your whole family.”

“Now is fine,” Bram said weakly. He didn’t want to do this now, but he also knew if he put this off, it wouldn’t happen. And Simon was right: having their first kiss in front of his family was a bad idea. It would be awkward and everyone would be able to tell. And knowing his family, they would come and talk to him about it, privacy be damned.

Simon nodded and scooted over to Bram so that they were face-to-face. Bram was staring into Simon’s eyes again. Bram couldn’t move. Simon put one hand on Bram’s cheek and quickly glanced down at Bram’s lips before looking back up. “Are you okay?”

Bram swallowed. “Y-yeah.”

“We don’t have to do this.”

“We should. I want to.”

Bram saw the hesitation on Simon’s face was suddenly afraid Simon wouldn’t go for it. So he did. He rubbed his nose against Simon’s, tilted his head, and brushed Simon’s lips with his own. It was just enough encouragement for Simon to wrap both of his hands around Bram’s neck and kiss him a little harder. Bram didn’t even think: he put his hands on Simon’s back, rubbing circles with his thumbs. Bram leaned back into the couch, pulling Simon closer to him, pulling Simon on top of him.

Simon laughed and pulled away. “We probably shouldn’t do that in front of your family.”

Bram bit his lip, embarrassed. He probably looked like a complete mess. “Yeah. Probably not.”

Simon leaned into Bram so their foreheads were touching. “You’re a fantastic kisser, Greenfeld.”

Bram looked down at his lap. “Thanks.”

“Should we maybe practice being affectionate in public? Instead of here?”

Bram wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep his hands off of Simon even in public. “Umm, I don’t know. Do we really need to practice?”

Simon moved so that they were no longer touching. “Yeah, no we don’t need to. I just thought we should get used to it. But we don’t have to.”

Bram thought he saw a hint of disappointment in Simon’s face. Maybe it was a good thing they were faking this relationship, Bram was pretty sure he’d never be able to say no to anything if they were really in a relationship. “You’re right, that’s a good idea. We shouldn’t look like a new couple in front of my family.”

Simon gave Bram a look he couldn’t decipher before putting his hand in Bram’s. “Bram baby, by the end of this week, we’re going to look like we’ve been in love forever.”

* * *

The next two weeks were completely filled with Simon. They spent every free minute together. One day Simon was taking him to the movies, the next day, treating him to dinner. Bram was glad he’d gotten into medical school and his classes this semester were easy. There was no way he could focus on his grades and manage Simon’s insistence that they have twenty dates in two weeks at the same time.

But Bram was now well beyond head over heels for Simon. Simon walked him to class as much as he could, surprised him with flowers one day, and bought him chocolate on Friday, saying “it’s our first Friday together, it’s important”. Bram reminded Simon that this was a fake relationship and Simon pointed out that the more they acted like a couple who had done nice things for each other, the easier it would be to convince his family.

They held hands constantly, and Simon was truly as affectionate as he’d said: pressing kisses to his neck and shoulder, giving him hugs and quick pecks on the lips at every greeting and goodbye, running a hand along his back at every opportunity. And Simon called him “Bram baby” all the time: “Bram baby, you look great today” or “Bram baby, could you pick up coffee before class for me tomorrow?” The term always made Bram blush and Simon always looked pleased that it did.

Bram wasn’t quite as good at all of this, although he did try. Or, well, he tried as much as he could given that he knew this wasn’t real. He mostly just kissed Simon’s cheek every once in a while.

Their friends had noticed. Abby grinned every time she saw the two of them, while Leah rolled her eyes and told them they were gross. Nick was mostly pretty chill about it, but anytime they ran into Garrett, Garrett would waggle his eyebrows and made kissy faces at them until Simon flipped him off.

Bram figured if they could convince their friends, then surely they could convince his family.

The only problem was that Bram was halfway convinced himself. This felt like a real relationship. They talked about anything and everything under the sun, from Harry Potter to conspiracy theories to Kendrick Lamar and the Black Panther soundtrack. They talked about important, meaningful stuff too, like how much it sucked to be closeted in high school and the abysmal current political climate.

Even their texts made it seem like they were together. Simon would send kissy face emojis every morning, text him pictures with “saw this, it reminded me of you”, and send him “goodnight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” every night at 11, without fail. Bram was completely and totally endeared.

Not to mention, Simon made such an effort to get to know Bram’s family. He’d recite people’s names, their relationship to Bram, and what interests they held. It was almost like he was actually Bram’s boyfriend meeting the family for the first time.

Everything felt so organic with Simon. Bram knew it was cheesy, but even smiling felt easier when he was with Simon.

So who could really blame Bram for not putting his whole heart into this fake relationship? After all, that would mean certain heartbreak. Even without his whole heart there, Bram was really worried about how he was going to handle going back to being Simon’s friend after the wedding.

* * *

Bram tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. He was sitting in the front seat of his car, unable to move. They’d reached the hotel in record time. Bram hated to admit that he speeded when he was nervous, but he absolutely did.

“I think I may have forgotten my shoes,” Bram said.

Simon rested his hand on Bram’s reassuringly. “You didn’t. You triple checked, remember?”

“This was a bad idea. I should have just sucked it up and told them I didn’t have a boyfriend.”

Simon leaned over and kissed Bram on the cheek. “Bram baby, it’s going to be fine.”

“Simon sweetie, you don’t know that,” Bram countered.

“Mm, I like sweetie, that’s a good endearment.”

Bram gave Simon a look. “Be serious.”

“You’re right, sweetheart is better.”

“Simon.”

Simon dimmed a little. “Sorry, thought the lightheartedness might help.”

Bram felt his heart twist a little. “Sorry, you’re doing your best. I’m just really nervous. How am I going to lie to my family for two days? They’re going to know we’re faking it, I can tell.”

Simon played with Bram’s fingers. “Then don’t fake it. Don’t lie.”

“What?”

Simon rested his head gently on Bram’s shoulder. “Abraham Greenfeld, for all intents and purposes, I am your boyfriend for the next two days. For real. Believe that and you won’t be lying.”

Bram’s stomach somersaulted, but Simon didn’t give him time to respond.

“Okay, get up let’s go. We have one hour to get changed for the rehearsal dinner. Not showing up at all will look a lot more suspicious than showing up with me.” Simon got out of the car and grabbed their suitcases.

Bram felt like he was drowning in Simon. He was going under and he was never going to be able to come back up to the surface. He still couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing or not.

“Come on,” Simon pulled Bram’s door open and yanked on Bram’s arm.

Half an hour later, they had checked in and changed. Bram tugged on his sleeve, trying to figure out another way to waste time so they didn’t have to do too much small talk before the dinner started.

“Bram, you look fine. Amazing, even. Why don’t we go downstairs and you can introduce me to your dad?” Simon smiled at him sweetly.

“I don’t know, maybe we should be late.”

Simon’s smile faltered just a little bit. “You don’t want to introduce me.”

“Simon.”

“No, it’s okay,” Simon sighed and turned away, folding his old clothes and putting them away. Bram knew Simon was trying not to be annoyed.

Bram wanted to introduce Simon to his dad, more than anything. But he wanted to introduce Simon as his boyfriend that he saw a future with, not his boyfriend for two days. But that wasn’t an option, so Bram did the only thing he could think of: he gave in. He would pretend this was really real, not just for two days, but forever. He was already this far gone; there was no use in trying to pull away from it now.

He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. Simon was his boyfriend. He took a couple more deep breaths and repeated that in his head a few more times. The more he thought it, the more he believed it. He opened his eyes and walked up behind Simon, wrapping his arms around Simon’s waist and kissing the top of his head. “Okay. Sorry. I’m ready, let’s go.”

Simon looked up at Bram, surprised. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Simon beamed and Bram couldn’t help but be captivated.

Bram let go of Simon’s waist, grabbing his hand instead.

Simon kept up a constant stream of chatter as they walked down to the dining area. Bram thought he could listen to the sound Simon’s voice forever and still not be tired of it.

“Bram!” Bram turned to see his cousin Daniel, who greeted him with a giant bear hug. “Long time, no see. How’s it going?”

“Hey, Dan. I’m great, and yourself?”

“Good, good,” Dan turned to Simon. “Is this the boyfriend?”

“Yeah,” Simon beamed, holding out his hand. “I’m Simon, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Simon, we don’t do handshakes here,” Dan replied, going in for a hug.

He let go and then turned back to Bram. “He’s too skinny. Everyone is going to want to feed him.”

“I’m okay with that,” Simon said.

Dan smirked. “You say that now, but just you wait. You’re going to end up so full you may vomit.”

Bram elbowed Dan in the ribs. “Dan, don’t scare him away, I want him to stick around.”

Simon beamed and kissed Bram on the cheek. “Don’t worry, nothing’s going to scare me away. I’m in this for the long haul.”

Bram felt like he had the breath knocked out of him. If only that were true. Bram pushed that thought away, reminding himself that Simon was his boyfriend.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. “Abraham.”

Bram turned to see his father. “Dad!” Bram wrapped his arms around his dad like he was five again.

Bram’s dad chuckled. “It’s good to see you, too.”

Bram pulled away and grabbed Simon’s hand. “Dad, this is Simon, my boyfriend.”

“Hello, Mr. Greenfeld,” Simon said, a little awkwardly. "It's very nice to finally meet you."

“Please, call me Jacob. We’re all family here.” He turned back to Bram. “Do you mind if I steal Simon for the dinner and get to know him?”

Bram bit his lip and looked at Simon. “No, I guess not.”

Simon squeezed his hand before following his dad to a table where Bram’s stepmom and half brother Caleb were sitting.

Bram spent the entirety of the rehearsal dinner staring at Simon and his dad. He tried to make conversation with his family, but his eyes kept drifting to Simon talking and smiling.

“He’s cute, huh?” Aunt Miriam asked.

Bram jerked his head back to look at her. “Hmm?”

“You like him a lot?”

Bram blushed. “Yeah.”

“He’s too skinny, but he seems like a lovely boy. I talked to him earlier and he asked me about my extensive coin collection. Not one yawn from him. Better than Esther’s boyfriend who can’t even bother to remember my name. I approve.”

“Thanks, Aunt Miriam,” Bram said wryly.

“He’s barely eating, though. He looks like he’s too busy talking.”

Bram laughed, “Yeah, he’s like that.”

“He’s going to waste away, maybe I should tell Jacob to let him eat.”

“Don’t bother, Simon will just find someone else to talk to.”

“Hmph.” She shook her head. “At least you eat well.”

After dinner, Simon got swept up meeting the rest of Bram’s family. Bram wanted to go to him, but he himself was stuck in conversation after conversation about how great it was that he was going to be a doctor and how was his mother and, of course, had he eaten enough.

By 10, most of the family had dispersed for bed, but Simon was still talking to Uncle Noah about plays and musicals. Uncle Noah could talk anyone’s head off and when he heard that Simon was a theater major, he immediately jumped in with his story about how he’d once been the lead in Fiddler on the Roof. Simon was good-natured about it though. He’d even told Bram to head up to bed, but Bram chose to sit a table away and scroll through emails while he waited.

“You’ve got some boy there.”

Bram looked up from his phone to see his dad pull out a chair and sit. “Yeah?”

“He seems like a good kid.”

“He is.”

He clapped Bram on the shoulder. “He clearly loves you a lot. He spent a lot of time talking about how much he appreciates having you in his life.”

“He did?”

“Yes.” Bram’s dad laughed. “And then he talked to me about a lot of classic novels that he very obviously has not read. I think he was trying to impress me, but he might be regretting the long list of books I recommended.”

“You didn’t.”

“You should have warned him not to talk to me about books. Or, at the very least, you should have told him to actually read them first.”

Bram sighed. He loved his dad, but sometimes he was a lot to deal with.

“He also really impressed Caleb. Talking about comic books and their Jewish, Nazi-fighting origins.”

“Yeah. Simon’s good with kids.” Bram was a little bit surprised that Simon knew that comic books had Jewish origins, though.

Bram’s dad nodded. “I can see you really love him, too. You look at him like he’s your world.”

Bram looked over at Simon, who was still engrossed in conversation with Uncle Noah. Simon wasn’t just humoring him; he was sincerely listening and engaging with Bram’s uncle. Bram had no idea why Simon was putting so much effort into this, but Bram couldn’t help but love him for it. “Yeah, I guess I do.” Bram’s heart ached at the truth of that statement. He’d thought this was just a crush, something he’d get over. But spending time with Simon, seeing how thoughtful and caring Simon was, watching him be genuinely interested in getting to know Bram’s family, Bram knew his heart was completely on the line.

“Good, I’m happy for you. You deserve that kind of love. Bring him around more often, okay? Get a good night’s rest, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, too, Abraham.”

* * *

Around 10:45, Simon finally managed to make his way back to Bram. “Hey.”

Bram smiled tiredly. “Hey.”

“You look sleepy.”

Bram stretched and stood up. “I am sleepy.”

“You should have gone to bed.”

“Mmm, no, I wanted to wait for you. Didn’t want to leave you at the mercy of Uncle Noah forever.”

Simon smiled softly, grabbing Bram’s hand and pressing a kiss into his shoulder. “Bram baby, I can handle myself.”

“I know,” Bram gave Simon a lazy kiss on the lips. If he was going to be heartbroken later, might as well enjoy all of this while it lasted.

Bram followed Simon’s lead back to the stairs, back to their room.

“My dad really liked you,” Bram said, as they got ready for bed.

“Did he? I was worried he wouldn’t. He kept giving me more books to read.”

“He told me to bring you around more often. And you don’t have to read any of them.”

Simon grinned. “I will, though. He had a lot of good recommendations. I already looked some of them up. Even put in an order for some on Amazon.”

“How did you even have time for that?” Bram shook his head, amused.

“I have mastered the art of typing on my phone and paying attention to a conversation at the same time.”

Bram huffed out a tiny laugh. “You were pretty great tonight. My whole family loves you.” Bram bit his lip, filled with a bit of melancholy. “You’re going to make someone a great trophy husband someday.”

Simon looked over at Bram and then down to the floor, sadly, and whispered, “No. You were right.”

Bram looked at Simon, filled with concern. “About?”

Simon took a deep breath and then opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked nervous. He looked like he was going to say something important. Then he shook his head and cracked a smile. “I’m not well-rounded enough to get a rich husband.”

Bram swallowed. “Oh.” Bram sat down on the edge of the bed, unsure how else to respond.

“No. That’s not what I wanted to say.” Simon sat down next to him. Bram looked over at him, expectantly, but Simon was intent on staring at the floor. “I meant to say you were right about this being a bad idea.”

“What? The fake-boyfriend thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? It went so well. I told you, everyone loves you.”

“Yeah, because I want it to be real, Bram,” Simon looked up at Bram then, his eyes glazed over with tears. “I want you to really be my boyfriend. Not just for this weekend. I made excuses to spend time with you, to hold your hand whenever I wanted to for the past two weeks. I wanted to impress your family and I hoped, maybe if we did all that, if we pretended to be in a relationship, you’d see how great we were together. I thought maybe you’d fall in love with me the way I’m in love with you. It was ridiculous, I know. I probably should have gotten the hint every time I flirted with you and you just laughed it away.”

Bram was dumbfounded.

“And it just sucks, you know? Because you’re amazing. Like, you’re so smart: you always look at everything and think it through, like it’s not worth it if you don’t understand it fully. And you’re so disciplined, going to the gym everyday, getting all your work done on time. It doesn’t hurt that you’re really, really attractive. There’s so much to you, so much I know and so much I want to know. And I just feel like a dumb bro who can’t get over being friend-zoned. This was a mistake, getting closer to you, because I got a taste of you and after tomorrow I have to pretend like it never happened.”

Bram still couldn’t speak.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to tell you. I shouldn’t have said anything. Now the whole wedding is going to be awkward. I really wanted this to go well for you. I ruin everything by running my dumb mouth,” Simon looked miserable. “I’m sorry.”

Simon moved to get up, but Bram caught his arm and pulled him back. Simon gave him a pained look.

Bram ignored it, wrapping his arms around Simon, pulling Simon’s head to his chest. He ran his fingers through Simon’s soft hair. “Simon.” Bram closed his eyes, breathed Simon in. “You have no idea.” Bram paused again, wanting to get the words just right. “You have no idea how incredible you are. I cannot believe you put up with my whole family tonight. They’re a lot to handle, but you did so well. I don’t even think I could have done that.”

Bram tightened his arms around Simon.

“You care so much, you’re so willing to learn and grow. I love that about you. And I also happen to love your so-called dumb mouth. You have the sweetest voice. I never want to stop hearing your voice.”

Bram nestled his nose in Simon’s hair.

“And you have no idea how much I love you. And I do. I love you so much that I don’t think there are words that can explain the magnitude of it. Just thinking about you makes me smile. Everyone can tell I’m completely gone over you.”

Simon said something that was completely muffled. Bram loosened his grip on Simon. Simon pulled away slightly to look at Bram, his eyes a little red as he whispered, “I couldn’t tell.”

“Not even a little bit? You’re the one who kept mentioning something about my insane crush on you.”

Simon smiled a little, eyes wandering down, not really focused on anything. “I was just saying what I wished was true.”

“It was true, though. I would have done anything you asked me to do. Still would. I’m completely and totally in love with you, Simon.”

Simon glanced back up at Bram’s face. And Bram couldn’t wait any longer, he leaned into Simon and kissed him, hoping it would fill in whatever gaps Bram couldn’t with his words. He felt Simon hesitate before moving his hands to Bram’s shoulders, before climbing completely on top of Bram. Bram had no reservations anymore: he stood up, moving fully onto the bed, biting gently on Simon’s lip, deepening the kiss.

And then they were horizontal and Simon was putting his hands under Bram’s shirt and Bram was pulling Simon’s shirt off and Simon was pressing a million tiny kisses to his jaw.

And Bram was pulling his own shirt off and pulling Simon even closer still, like if he held on tight enough, Simon would become a part of him.

And then Simon was rubbing circles into Bram’s hipbones with his thumbs and Bram was clutching Simon’s hair.

And Simon was kissing down his neck

And his chest

And his stomach

And

And

And

* * *

“Wow,” Simon breathed, resting his head on Bram’s chest.

“Yeah.”

“That was…” Simon trailed off.

“Yeah,” Bram ran his fingers through Simon’s hair. “Can’t believe it took me four years to make that happen.”

“I can’t believe it happened at all.”

Bram tilted Simon’s head up. “We could do it again. Would that help you believe?”

“I wouldn’t mind it.” Simon ran his fingers along Bram’s jaw.

Bram smiled. “I love you.”

Simon hummed happily. “Love you too, Bram baby.”


End file.
